FAMU approves contract for new president

Elmira Mangum, named president of Florida A&M on Jan. 9,… (Cornell University, Cornell…)

February 7, 2014|By Denise-Marie Ordway, Orlando Sentinel

FAMU trustees approved Friday a three-year contract for new President Elmira Mangum that comes with an annual base salary of $425,000.

Trustees at Florida A&M University spent nearly three and a half hours debating how much Mangum should be paid and what other sorts of financial compensation she should receive during and after her tenure as the university's first female president.

Early last month, the board of trustees chose Mangum, a vice president at Cornell University, to replace former President James Ammons. Ammons was pushed out in 2012 amid a growing scandal over the hazing death of drum major Robert Champion and other problems.

On Friday, the board made several changes to a contract that Mangum already had agreed to. While many changes were minor, the board deleted a $1,000-a-month car allowance and slashed the amount of money she would receive if she decided to teach at FAMU after leaving the presidency.

"If she does not accept it, I'll have to bring it back to you …," he said during a teleconference.

If Mangum agrees to the new contract, it is still subject to approval by the Board of Governors of the State University System.

Some trustees had raised concerns about Mangum's proposed salary of $425,000, especially considering she has never been a college president. Ammons' base salary was $341,250 a year, although he left the job with a pay package of more than $440,000, which included two bonuses.

In comparison, John Hitt, the president of University of Central Florida — the state's largest public university with more than four times as many students as FAMU — earns an annual salary of $491,000.